Teledontistry.

I’d already decided on “teledon” as a replacement for “doofus” for this kind of thing, and then lo and behold, I am opening act for a real-live teledon, my erstwhile colleague Niall. Those who like this sort of thing will enjoy listening here as I crack wise based on Keynes’s wit.

Also, jftr, the thing that sticks out to me about Geithner is his Bretton Woods/international economics experience.

This is officially an award-winning blog

HNN, Best group blog: "Witty and insightful, the Edge of the American West puts the group in group blog, with frequent contributions from an irreverent band.... Always entertaining, often enlightening, the blog features snazzy visuals—graphs, photos, videos—and zippy writing...."

Actually, Eric, I choose a dentist not based upon his/her alleged skills, but rather on his/her willingness to administer nitrous oxide in order to alleviate the stress associated with having someone invade one’s oral cavity for the express purpose of inflicting pain.

It’s funny what strikes people about Geithner. For me it was his youth, rare in central bankers. Then again, when I look at the ages of people in the administration-in-waiting, I don’t know whether to be more surprised at how young they are or at how I could have gotten so old without noticing it much until now.

To some, it’s a big deal that Geithner can supposedly speak Chinese, the language of a nation from whom Americans have been borrowing so much money and buying so much stuff. Elsewhere, I read that he “studied Japanese and Chinese”, which made me skeptical that he could have gained fluency in either. (Remember when wingnuts said Obama was “fluent in Arabic” just because he could recite verbatim a call to prayer that, for a few years of his life, he probably heard five times daily? By this measure, I’m “fluent in Latin” because I was raised Catholic.) But Geithner might be the real deal, linguistically (fluent in Chinese, at least), if his alma mater is to be believed.

For further evidence of Geithner’s glintingly ambiguous charisma, as reflected in what people find striking about him, his first Chinese instructor is quoted in the Dartmouth link above as saying:

“Tim was international, he was lively and he had this wonderful giggle,” Blader said. “Everyone loved him.”

I’m so jealous. Also, I wish I was 47 again. Youth is wasted on the young. Get off my lawn.